Flashback Weekend Horror Con Comes to Rosemont

Flashback Weekend is just a few weeks away. From Friday, August 2 through Sunday, August 4, Flashback Weekend Horror Con will take over the Crowne Plaza O'Hare in Rosemont.

I have been going to Flashback Weekend from the beginning and I have met so many great celebrities. This year promises to be another fantastic event. Loaded with celebrity guests, events, and vendors, it is one of the longest running such conventions in the country and also one of the best.

While Flashback Weekend always brings in a great celebrity lineup, this year might be the biggest yet. Robert Englund, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are the headliners, but the rest of the list has plenty of star power, too.

Joining that popular trio are some greats from the world of horror, including Lance Henriksen, Tony Todd, Virginia Madsen, Ted Raimi, Robert Kurtzman, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Lisa Wilcox, Tuesday Knight, Brooke Theiss, Toy Newkirk, Lisa Zane, Melinda Clarke, Cerina Vincent, Fred Dekker, Tom Atkins, Jason Lively, Jill Whitlow, Steve Marshall, Alan Kayser and Ken Heron. Listing all of their credits would be a near impossible task. It is quite an assemblage and I am looking forward to seeing all of them.

On the local front, horror host icon Svengoolie will make his usual appearance. Sven is always a favorite wherever he goes. He is one of the nicest, most genuine people you'll ever meet. I have met Sven several times and actually consider him a friend, but I still get excited seeing him each time.

Also appearing are Flashback Master of Ceremonies Dann Gire and co-hosts Nick Digilio, Steve Prokopy and Heather Wixson. With many years in various forms of media and entertainment on their resumes, they know how to keep the events fun and moving them along.

The list continues with John Laflamboy, John Borowski, Chad Savage, Ron Fitzgerald and Jim Sorfleet. Each brings his own talent and energy to the weekend.

The toughest part of the whole weekend might be coordinating your time to meet everyone, but that is a good problem to have. That is also why I suggest going every day to get the full impact of the convention.

I haven't even mentioned the various panels, Q&A's, The 14th Annual Sinister Visions Costume Contest and other fun. There is always something happening and it is all good, horror-related entertainment.

One of my favorite parts of Flashback Weekend isn't even advertised. It's seeing all of my friends who are attending. This is always like a big reunion. Some friends I see once a year at Flashback, while others I see more regularly, but hanging out at Flashback is always a great place to catch up and create new fun memories.

This is three days of fun I never miss. It's well-run by great people who care about their patrons. I will be "On the Beat" there all weekend and I will be reporting as always.